Hydraulic power apparatus



July 31, 1956 M. J. JOYCE 1 2,756,962

HYDRAULIC POWER APPARATUS Filed Dec. 17, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 21 INVENTOR. ZZJ l I A \\\M BY \mxm v AT TORNE KS July 31, 1956 M. J. JOYCE HYDRAULIC POWER APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 17, 1952 IN V EN TOR.

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HYDRAULIC POWER APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 4 77 F i 9.3 o g 44 7f 0 I I t I 72 o I I I o f/ 0-H 5 O w, 79 O XI O o 0 o so IN VEN TOR.

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HYDRAULIC POWER APPARATUS Filed Dec. 17, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ll 1 I 95 1t; 1;; iii; 40 P9 ii Ill,

W lkxxwx m United States Patent HYDRAULIC POWER APPARATUS Michael Joseph Joyce, New York, N. Y.

Application December 17, 1952, Serial No. 326,560

6 Claims. (Cl. 253-26) This invention relates to power transmitting systems and to special features that simplify the construction of the parts.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved power transmitting system in which hydraulic fluid is pumped from a reservoir to a high pressure header from which it is delivered as the driving fluid for a group of turbines. The exhaust from the turbines is delivered to the reservoir from which the pump takes liquid, thus establishing a closed circuit for the hydraulic fluid.

One feature of the invention relates to a combination in which the turbines are of identical construction and similarly connected with the header for rotation in the same direction, and in which the power is delivered to shafting arranged in such a way that there are separate sections of shafting between successive turbines eliminating the necessity for long shafts and accurate alinement of shaft bearings.

Other features of the invention relate to turbine constructions which relieve the loads on the bearings by providing buoyant rotors, and which facilitate repair by having the parts constructed for convenient removal and reassembly.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views;

Fig. l is a diagrammatic elevation showing a power transmitting system embodying this invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the headers and turbines shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1,

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken on the lines 4-4 and 5-5, respectively, of Fig. 3,

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are sectional views taken on the lines 6-6, 77, and 8-8, respectively, of Fig. 4,

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 6,

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the sealing key and the partition groove of the structure shown in Fig. 9.

The power transmitting system, shown in Fig. 1, includes a plurality of pumps 21, each of which is driven by a prime mover 22. The pumps are shown as multistage centrifugal pumps, but other types of pumps can be used. The prime movers 22 are merely representative of power supply means for driving the pumps 21. The pumps 21 draw liquid, preferably water 24, from a reservoir 25, through a suction pipe 26. This suction pipe is commanded by a valve 27.

The pumps 21 discharge liquid under high pressure through a pipe 29 to headers 30. These headers have downwardly extending pipes 32 with horizontal connectors 33 for supplying liquid to hydraulic turbines 34.

v The drawing shows two hydraulic turbines 34 but it will be understood that there can be as many hydraulic Patented July 31, 1956 ice turbines as desirable depending upon the amount of power to be transmitted.

In the preferred construction of the invention, the turbines 34 are identical and additional power require ments are met by merely connecting more of the turbines in a line along the length of the headers 30. The headers are increased in length to accommodate additional turbine units. Each of the downwardly extending pipes 32 is commanded by a shut off valve 36; and there is also a shut off valve 37 in each of the headers 30 ahead of each downwardly extending pipe 32. By closing any one of the valves 36 associated with a particular turbine, that turbine can be put out of operation. Closing any one of the valves 37 shuts off the supply of liquid to all of the turbines beyond that valve. Thus the valves 36 provide control for individual turbines and the valves 37 provide control of the supply of liquid to groups of turbines.

Each of the turbines 34 has a supporting frame 39 which rests upon a base 40 located below the turbine. The turbines 34 are shown with their axes extending vertically through the turbine housing and provided with a thrust bearing 43 at the lower end of the shaft.

Each turbine also has a number of rotors connected to its shaft 42, and the turbines may be made of any desired length depending upon the number of rotors required to develop the power wanted from each turbine unit. In the construction shown the turbines 34 have housings 44 which are made in two halves that come together along a seam 45 provided with flanges 46 by which the opposing halves of the turbine housing can be firmly secured together by bolts 47. In order to make the turbine units of smaller multiple parts, the housings can be made up of sections for five turbine rotors and when additional groups of rotors are wanted, sections of housing can be bolted together by circumferential flanges 5t). Longer shafts are used depending upon the number of rotors.

In the construction illustrated, the power from the turbines 34 is transmitted to a generator 52. The generator is connected with the turbines by shafting which includes a tail shaft 54 coupled to the armature shaft of the generator and provided with a bevel gear 55 at its end adjacent to the first turbine 34. The shafting also includes intermediate shafts 57, there being one such shaft between each turbine and the next adjacent turbine. All units of the shafting turn in pedestal bearing 59 mounted on the base 40. The use of intermediate shafts 57 between the turbines, in place of one continuous shaft for all the turbines, makes it unnecessary to maintain highly accurate alinement of the shaft bearings; and also makes it possible to provide thrust bearings on the base beneath each of the turbines.

There are bevel gears 55 on the opposite ends of the intermediate shafts 57, and these bevel gears 55 mesh with other bevel gears 61 secured to the shafts 42 of the turbines.

The bevel gears 61 of alternate turbines are located on opposite sides of the shafting so that the turbine shafts all turn in the same direction. Without this gearing arrangement alternate turbines would have to have their rotor buckets disposed in the opposite direction and would have to have their nozzles arranged to drive the rotors in the direction opposite to that of the adjacent turbine.

The water under high pressure passes into the turbine housings 44, at each rotor, through the horizontal connectors 33; and the exhaust water from the turbines flows through manifolds 63 to exhaust pipes 64 which lead to an exhaust header 65. The water from the exhaust header 65 flows out through a tail pipe 66 into the reservoir 25.

In the ordinary operation of the system, the amount of water discharged into the reservoir 25 is exactly equal to that withdrawn by the pumps 21 through the suction pipe 26. There are some losses of water, however, and the reservoir is maintained at a substantially constant level by make-up water from a supply pipe 68 commanded by a valve 69. This valve 69 is operated by a float 70 which opens the valve whenever the level of water in the reservoir 25 drops below a predetermined level.

Figure 3 shows a section through a rotor 72 of one of the turbines. This rotor '72 includes a body portion 73 which is hollow and buoyant. There are buckets closely spaced around the periphery of the body portion 73 of the rotor. These buckets extend close to the inside wall of the turbine housing 44, but they have running clearances.

The water under high pressure, which enters the turbine housing through the horizontal connectors 33 passes through nozzles 77 from which it is discharged into the buckets 75 of the rotor to drive the rotor in a counterclockwise direction, in Figure 3.

The water in the buckets 75 discharges from the buckets at an exhaust port 79. In the construction illustrated, the exhaust port 79 is spaced from the nozzle 77 by an angu-- lar distance of slightly more than 90, but this distance is less on turbines having nozzles at more locations around the turbine. Figure 3 shows a turbine with nozzles 77 at opposite sides of the rotor, and corresponding exhaust ports 79 at regions intermediate the nozzle locations. In practice, the turbine has more nozzle locations and exhaust ports so as to utilize the full circumference of the rotor for development of power during each revolution. The structure shown in Figure 3 is diagrammatic.

Figure 4 shows the rotor 72 with a hub 80 that extends along a substantial part of the length of the turbine shaft 42. In the preferred construction, the rotor hub 80 has a sleeve attached to the shaft 42 by set screws 81.

The rotor 72 is preferably made in two parts and the sleeve 89 is a split sleeve, one-half of which is integral with the corresponding half of the body portion 72 of the rotor. The opposite halves of the rotor have flanges 83 that confront one another (as shown in Figure 7) when the rotor is assembled, and there are bolts 84 which hold the opposite halves of the rotor assembly in an integral unit.

Above the rotor 72 there is a collar 86 (Figure 4) attached to the hub 80 and the shaft 42 by a screw 87. This collar 87 supports a key ring 88 which surrounds the hub 80. The key ring is loose on the hub so that the hub can turn without it. The peripheral face of the key ring is grooved like a pulley. The key plate 89 is of annular shape and has its initial end portion engaged in the groove of the key ring -88. The outer peripheral edge of the key plate 89 extends into a groove so in the inside wall of the turbine housing 44. Another collar 92 is attached to the upper end of the hub 80 by a screw 93. This upper collar 92 prevents upward displacements of the key ring 88.

There is a similar key ring and key plate 89 above each rotor of the turbine to divide the interior of the turbine housing into chambers. These chambers contain water in which the rotors are supported, entirely or to a large extent, by their own buoyancy so that the thrust load at the lower end of the turbine shaft is eliminated or substantially reduced.

Figure 4 shows a key ring 88' between collars 92 below the rotor 72. It will be understood that this key ring 88' is supported on the hub 30' of the next rotor below the rotor 72, and that it cooperates with a key plate similar to the key plate 89.

The illustration in Figure 4 is diagrammatic, and the longitudinal extent of the key ring 88 and collars 86 and 92 are exaggerated in proportion to the size of the rotor for clearer illustration.

Figure shows the way in which the buckets 75 open into the exhaust manifold 63 through the exhaust port 79.

Figure 6 is a sectional view through the rotor housing 40 and shows the way in which the opposite halves of the rotor housing are held together by bolts 47 extending through the flanges 46 of the rotor housing. This section is taken just above the key plate 89 and shows the peripheral edge of the key plate extending into the groove 90 all around the housing.

Figure 7 is a sectional view through the lower collar 86, and shows the top of the rotor 72 with its connecting flanges which have already been considered in conjunction with the structure shown in Figure 4.

Figure 8 shows the rotor flanges 83 extending down the sides of the rotor hub and connected together by screws 84. The set screws 81 extend through the hub 80 at a region which is angularly spaced from the flanges 83.

The key plate 89 (Figure 6) is made in two halves which can be assembled around the key ring 88, when the turbine housing is separated by removing one side. The opposite halves of the key plate are held in assembled re lation by the inside wall of the rotor housing around the outer edge of the key plate, and by the key ring 88 into which the inner edge of the key plate extends. In order to allow for manufacturing tolerances and changes in temperature, a gap is left between the confronting faces of the opposite halves of the key plate 89. This gap is indicated in Figure 6 by the reference character 95.

Figures 9 and 10 show a key 96 which extends into grooves 97 in the confronting edge faces of the opposite halves of the key plate 89. This key 96 is surrounded, throughout most of its length, by the packing sleeve or sealing element 98 which fits snugly within the grooves 97 to prevent the leakage of water through the gap 95.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim for my invention:

1. A hydraulic turbine having a housing consisting of two parts joined by a seam extending longitudinally of the housing, chambers Within the housing, separate rotors Within the respective chambers, a common shaft extending through the rotors axially thereof, and extending longitudinally through the housing, partitions between the different rotors and surrounding the shaft and extending radially outwardly into contact with the wall of the housing, each of the partitions consisting of two halves which are initially brought together from opposite sides of the shaft, the opposite halves of the partition having confronting faces with recesses therein, and a packing key that engages the recesses in the confronting faces of the opposite halves of each partition for making a substantially liquid-tight joint between the opposite halves of the partition.

2. A hydraulic turbine having a housing consisting of two parts joined by a seam extending longitudinally of the housing, chambers within the housing, separate rotors within the respective chambers, a common shaft extending through the rotors axially thereof, and extending longitudinally through the housing, and partitions between the different rotors and surrounding the shaft and extending radially outwardly into contact with the wall of the housing, the inside face of the turbine housing having circumferential recesses into which the peripheral por tion of the partitions extend.

3. A hydraulic turbine including a housing having two parts joined together at a seam extending longitudinally of the housing, a chamber within the housing, a rotor located within the chamber, a partition in the housing forming an end wall of the chamber adjacent to the rotor and having a center opening therein, a shaft of the rotor extending through the center opening, the partition including two halves which have confronting faces, each of which is recessed to form substantially half of the opening for the shaft, the halves of the partition being brought together at opposite sides of the shaft, other radially extending recesses in the confronting faces of the two halves of the partition, and a packing key that engages said other recesses in the confronting faces for making a substantially liquid-tight joint between the opposite halves of the partition.

4. The hydraulic turbine described in claim 3 and in which there is a collar on the shaft and a circumferential groove in the collar concentric with the axis of the shaft, and in which the confronting surfaces of the partition which form the opening for the shaft extend into the groove in the collar when the partition is in its assembled relation with the shaft and housing.

5. A hydraulic turbine having a housing including two parts joined together along a seam which extends longitudinally of the housing, a rotor enclosed within a chamber in the housing, a shaft for the rotor, a wall forming one end of the chamber and through which the shaft extends, the wall being made of two parts that meet along a line extending in opposite directions radially from the shaft, a collar on the shaft where it extends through the wall, the collar having a circumferential recess into which recessed portions of the wall extend to provide a seal where the shaft extends through said wall.

6. The hydraulic turbine described in claim 5, and in which there is a circumferential groove in the wall of the housing and the peripheral portion of the wall extends into the circumferential groove to provide a seal around the periphery of the wall, and in which the confronting faces of the parts of the wall, which extend outwardly from the collar, are recessed and contain a packing key that forms a seal between the confronting faces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 190,172 Welham May 1, 1877 245,867 Ridgway Aug. 16, 1881 624,348 Lighthall May 2, 1899 668,512 Freitag Feb. 19, 1901 771,103 Smith Sept. 27, 1904 803,595 Hofmann Nov. 7, 1905 909,684 Scanlon Jan. 12, 1909 1,043,480 Sundh Nov. 5, 1912 1,158,569 Sebald Nov. 2, 1915 1,414,984 Hood May 2, 1922 1,776,392 Moody Sept. 23, 1930 1,926,692 Tarbox Sept. 12, 1933 

